Cattle breeding and the production of animal waste go together. The generation of waste, solid, liquid and gaseous, becomes an increasing problem. In the art, several solutions are suggested.
US2002020677 for instance describes an integrated farm animal waste treatment system for treating solid and liquid farm animal wastes while recovering waste heat energy generated during the treatment process. The preferred embodiment includes a portable chemical treatment process that can be moved from one waste processing site to another in order to treat a variety of different types of animal waste in varying amounts on a batch basis. The preferred embodiment provides for the destruction of hazardous solids, liquids and gases. In addition, the process includes means to isolate and recover valuable by-products of farm animal waste, such as nitrogen and ammonia, for use in manufacturing commercial-grade fertilizer. The preferred embodiment also includes means for capturing waste heat for use either internally in the waste treatment process itself or, alternatively as a source of heat for the farm creating the animal wastes. The same basic process, but with additional, more permanent features, can be installed and operated on either a batch or continuous basis as a permanent installation, depending on the need within a particular farming community.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,863,826 it is described that animal waste such as fecal material from swine, chicken, turkey, and cattle is converted into useful forms such as fertilizer, other types of soil builders, and even nutrient feed additives. Devices, systems, and methods are provided that allow economical conversion and in many instances, alleviate the production and release of undesirable gases such as sulphide and ammonia. In one embodiment, undesirable anaerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria are killed at a greater rate than desirable soil compatible aerobic bacteria. The use of low temperature killing diminishes off gassing commonly associated with other techniques, and the use of gas trapping additives such as zeolites provides enhanced soil building qualities such as slow release of nitrogen and slow release of moisture to soil. The methods allow convenient adjustment of composition, allowing conversion of waste into tailored designer fertilizer suited for particular soils. Other embodiments provide other soil building qualities as well as nutrient qualities for feedstock used in animal husbandry such as aquaculture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,233 describes a method for reducing offensive odours in poultry houses comprising adding at least 10 pounds of composted cow manure per ton of poultry manure. The method is ascribed to substantially reduce offensive odour in poultry houses especially ammonia odour and thereby provides a healthier environment for poultry and poultry workers. Since the ammonia loss to the environment is reduced, the nitrogen is retained in the poultry manure providing a product with higher nitrogen content.
US2004120845 describes a method and apparatus for neutralizing airborne pathogens in ventilated air, and in heating or air conditioning systems. The pathogen neutralization system is assumed to be effective against a wide spectrum of pathogens, to incorporate commercially available components, and to be readily integrated into commercial HVAC systems where it neutralizes airborne pathogens in large volumes of ventilated air in real time without any chemical reagents. Typically, the system has a flow-through reaction chamber that contains a UV light source that emits short intense flashes of broad-spectrum UV light, a source of water vapour or spray, and an ozone generator. The system is assumed to generate highly reactive ozone intermediates by irradiating ozone gas with UV light in the presence of water droplets or water vapour. According to US2004120845, the pathogens that can be neutralized by this system include bacteria, viruses, spores, fungi and parasites.